Trump sparks outcry with comments seen as downplaying domestic violence
World
By
AFP
| Sep 09, 2025
US President Donald Trump faced accusations of downplaying the seriousness of domestic violence Monday after he suggested some incidents were "lesser" crimes that should not be included in statistics.
The Republican leader, who claims to have restored order in Washington by deploying federal agents and soldiers, was criticizing his opponents for allegedly inflating crime figures to tarnish his record.
"Much lesser things, things that take place in the home, they call crime," Trump said during a speech on religious freedom.
"If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime," he added to some laughter from the audience, according to an AFP journalist present.
The National Organization for Women (NOW), a female rights group, criticized the US president for being "blind to the domestic violence crisis in America."
READ MORE
Confusion rocks Kebs over safety of another Lake Gas LPG cargo
Kenya to host first-ever PUBG Mobile Africa Cup finals
Kenyan meat processor QMP expands into Gulf and DRC with new halal line
Big banks have lowest loan rates: CBK data
Kenya's exports to the US grow as countries' struggle with tariffs
Phone dealers sue Stanbic Bank for allegedly overcharging on Sh100m loan
Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt to benefit from Sh37 billion global fund
Banks defy digital tide to court rural borrowers
Ukraine, tariffs and the oil trap: What Washington is not saying
"Donald Trump showed us again what's in his heart when he called domestic violence a 'lesser crime,'" said NOW president Kim Villanueva.
Kris Mayes, the Democratic attorney general of Arizona, also responded on X: "Yes, Mr. President, domestic violence is a crime."
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 41 percent of women and 26 percent of men in the United States experience sexual violence, physical violence or stalking from an intimate partners during their lifetime.